Walking Walrus - Walking Westminster Maryland

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Walking

Walking with the Walrus

WESTMINSTER MD USA 11KM VOLKSMARCH
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1997

by Kevin Shaw
The Piedmont Pacers sponsored this 11 KM (2 rated) volksmarch in Westminster, the Carroll County seat of this basically rural north-central MD County. Once again, weather played a big part in this walk, as clouds and rain once again were prevalent on both days at times. We are getting paybacks for the dry summer and early fall we had, as the past few weekends have been rather wet and gloomy for walking in this area. But on this early Sunday afternoon, it was cloudy and raw, but the rain held off, and despite an occasional chilly wind gust, especially up on some of the exposed ridges we were walking on, it really wasn't bad walking weather.
Peaches, India and I met my friend Eric Johnston at the start point, the Maryland Jaycees Headquarters Building a bit west of town. Registration was quick and friendly, among my Piedmont Pacer friends working efficiently there.
The trail was marked with streamers, and written directions were also given out at the start point. Either one could have been used by themselves, if you were paying attention. The walk started out going through suburban neighborhoods, with several turns, and a few major road crossings. Soon we were on more country lanes, narrower, and without sidewalks and a lot of shoulder to walk on. But this wasn't bad, there was not a lot of traffic to worry about. At one point near a golf course we crossed and recrossed the narrow road, directed by markers, for safety concerns.
We were up on a lot of exposed ridges during the first part of the walk, which afforded some spectacular views of the rural countryside. Though the fall colors are past peak, there still was quite a bit of reds, yellows, oranges, and rusts left on many of the trees. Past the golf course, houses became quite sparse, with large fields and the great views predominating. The first checkpoint was then reached at the Carroll Lutheran Village, in an indoor room with a much needed bathroom. I kept the pooches outside, tied to a piece of furniture. With a wait for the bathroom causing us to take a few minutes, the pooches got restless and pulled the wrought iron seat to the door, and surprised a few walkers ahead of us when they opened the door! We relented and brought the dogs in, allowing them to greet the three volunteers working the checkpoint. What fun!!!!
After leaving the Village area, we made a few turns and headed down a significant hill on Luther Drive down to Old New Windsor Pike. We heard some sounds as we started walking on this Pike, and it turned out to be a few Rock bands warming up for a country concert on a farm field off to the left. I don't recall ever walking an event with a rock concert warming up along the way! We turned onto Adams Mill Road after crossing Little Pipe Creek, and this country lane started the best part of the walk, in my opinion. Very little traffic, maybe one or two cars, and cows and the stream off to the left and wooded hills to the right really gave us a peaceful, tranquil setting.
For the next few kilometers, we gradually climbed uphill along several country lanes, past barns, old farmhouses, and along this stream. The roadway became crushed gravel and very remote. At one turn was checkpoint two, Steve Deux sitting in his Packers van. He said we were at the 6.7 km mark.
The gradual climb became steep after a while, but only a short distance. We reached the top of the ridge and great views again. But I noticed some horses and cows to our right in a field, and the horses came quickly over to check us out. Peaches growled a bit, not knowing what this horse really wanted. I pulled her away as we headed on down the trail. Gradually the rural nature of the trail became more and more residential along Rockland Road, but not before passing some really expansive yards both Eric and I thought were large enough to have your own golf course on. At one point the sun started to come out, and to our west this brilliantly red small maple tree just glistened spectacularly. I should have had my camera!
We reached Uniontown Road and crossed it, then proceeded on it down and up to a turn into residential neighborhoods once again. We passed several ponds along the way, and a community pool, keeping them to our left, and made a few turns to complete our loop and our very scenic 11 km journey. Chuck Merkel, one of the walk organizers, drove by us a few times during the walk, giving us encouragement and distance updates.
We thanked Club volunteers Chuck, Helen, Steve, Ed and others at the finish after getting our books stamped and checking out the brochures. There were about 217 walkers for this two-day event, roughly about 180 paid. There was also a 5 km option available. I noticed an orchard store called Baugher's that I visited after leaving the walk to stock up on some great locally produced apples and a delicious blackberry pie that my family and I enjoyed for dessert tonight. That put a great cap on a great afternoon. I always enjoy Piedmont Pacer events, and walking in the beautiful rural Carroll County countryside. I would love to return here once again someday, and enjoy walking on the picturesque country lanes that predominate the area.